CN107852674B

CN107852674B - Load information transmission method and device

Info

Publication number: CN107852674B
Application number: CN201580081727.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 刘乐; 蓝洲
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2015-07-31
Filing date: 2015-07-31
Publication date: 2020-05-08
Anticipated expiration: 2035-07-31
Also published as: WO2017020174A1; CN107852674A

Abstract

The invention discloses a method and a device for sending load information, wherein the method comprises the following steps: measuring the frequency space flow utilization rate of each unit bandwidth channel in the usable bandwidth of the AP by the AP within a set time range, wherein the frequency space flow utilization rate is the ratio of a space flow occupied by a frequency resource block allocated on the unit bandwidth channel for transmitting data to the maximum space flow supported by an antenna of the AP; adding indication information indicating the frequency space stream utilization to a load information element; and transmitting the load information element to the station STA. By adopting the method and the device provided by the invention, the STA can determine available resources after determining the frequency space flow utilization rate of each unit bandwidth channel, and further determine the AP needing to be accessed, thereby balancing the load among the APs and ensuring that the resource allocation is more reasonable.

Description

Load information transmission method and device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for transmitting load information.

Background

With the development of mobile internet and the popularization of intelligent terminals, data traffic is rapidly increasing. Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) is one of the mainstream mobile broadband access technologies due to its advantages of high speed and low cost.

In the existing 802.11ac channel bonding, a main 20MHz channel and an extension sub-20 MHz channel form a continuous 40MHz channel, then an extension sub-40 MHz channel forms a continuous 80MHz channel, and an extension sub-80 MHz channel forms a continuous 160MHz channel or a discontinuous 80MHz +80MHz channel (a specific channel bonding structure is shown in table 1).

TABLE 1

For 20/40/80/160/80+80MHz of channel bonding of 802.11ac, the AP measures and sends information of Basic Service Set (BSS) load in a Beacon (Beacon) frame or a Probe response (Probe response) frame, where the load information element (BSS load element) in the existing 802.11ac is shown in table 2, where each domain is defined as follows:

TABLE 2

Element ID: for identifying that the medium access control frame (MAC frame) is a BSS load element MAC frame;

length: indicating the length of the BSS load element MAC frame;

MU-MIMO capable STA count: for indicating a number of users supporting reception of 801.11ac DL MU-MIMO in the BSS;

spatial stream undersuitization: for indicating spatial stream utilization on a primary20MHz channel (primary20 MHz-channel);

observer secondary20 MMHz utilizations: a spatial stream utilization (spatial stream utilization) for indicating a secondary20MHz channel;

observer secondary40 MMHz utilizations: spatialstream utilizations for indicating a sub-40 MHz channel;

observer secondary80 MMHz utilizations: spatialstream utilizations for indicating a sub-80 MHz channel;

wherein spatial stream utilization is defined as:

wherein N is_{max_SS}Is the maximum number of multiplexed streams of the AP (e.g., 8 streams in the case of 8 antennas), T_busyIs the length of time the Channel is busy, T, determined from Clear Channel Assessment (CCA)_utilizedDefinition is the sum of the weighted transmit times of all the real occupied-space streams on the primary channel, defined as

N_ss，iIs at the transmission time T_iNumber of occupied space streams within.

In summary, the spectrum utilization of all 20MHz channels in the bandwidth is the same in the existing 802.11ac system. The information of the existing BSS load only indicates the spectrum utilization of one 20MHz channel. However, for the 802.11ax system supporting Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (ofdm) and Multiple-User Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MU-MIMO), the spectrum utilization rate of each 20MHz channel in the bandwidth is different, and the BSS load element specified by the existing 802.11ac system cannot effectively represent the spectrum utilization rate of each 20MHz channel, thereby resulting in a problem of low resource utilization rate.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention provides a load information transmission method, and the method and the device provided by the invention solve the problem that the resource utilization rate is low due to a load information transmission mode in the prior art.

In a first aspect, a method for sending load information is provided, where the method includes:

measuring the frequency space flow utilization rate of each unit bandwidth channel in the usable bandwidth of the AP by the AP in a set time range, wherein the frequency space flow utilization rate is the ratio of a space flow occupied by a frequency resource block allocated on the unit bandwidth channel for transmitting data relative to the maximum space flow supported by an antenna of the AP;

adding indication information indicating the frequency space stream utilization to a load information element;

and transmitting the load information element to the station STA.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a primary20MHz channel, a secondary40MHz channel, and a secondary80MHz channel, the indication information includes:

the frequency space stream utilization rate of the primary20MHz channel and the frequency space stream utilization rate of the secondary20MHz channel;

a difference between the average frequency space stream utilization for the secondary40MHz channels and the average frequency space stream utilization for each 20MHz channel within the secondary40MHz channels relative to the average utilization for the secondary40MHz channels; wherein, the average frequency space stream utilization rate of the auxiliary 40MHz channel is the linear arithmetic mean value of the frequency space stream utilization rates of 2 20MHz channels in the auxiliary 40MHz channel;

the average frequency space stream utilization of the secondary80MHz channel and the frequency space stream utilization of each 20MHz channel in the secondary80MHz channel are different from the average utilization of the secondary80MHz channel, wherein the average frequency space stream utilization of the secondary80MHz channel is a linear arithmetic average of the frequency space stream utilizations of the 4 20MHz channels in the secondary80MHz channel.

With reference to the first aspect, in a second possible implementation manner, when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a primary20MHz channel, a secondary40MHz channel, and a secondary80MHz channel, the indication information includes:

a difference in frequency-space stream utilization for each 20MHz channel within the secondary40MHz channel relative to the frequency-space stream utilization for the primary20MHz channel and the secondary20MHz channel;

the frequency space stream utilization rate of each 20MHz channel in the secondary80MHz channel is respectively different from the frequency space stream utilization rates of two 20MHz channels of the main 20MH channel, the secondary20MHz channel and the secondary40MHz channel.

With reference to the first aspect, in a third possible implementation manner, when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a main 20MHz channel and a set bandwidth channel, the indication information includes:

a frequency space stream utilization rate of a primary20MHz channel within the usable bandwidth;

a total frequency space flow utilization of the set bandwidth channel, wherein the total frequency space flow utilization is a linear arithmetic mean of frequency space flow utilizations of at least one 20MHz channel within the set bandwidth channel;

a difference of a frequency space stream utilization of each 20MHz channel within the set bandwidth channel relative to the total frequency space stream utilization; wherein

If the set bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, the difference is 0;

if the set bandwidth channel is a 40MHz channel, the difference value comprises a difference value obtained by the difference between the average frequency space stream utilization rate of the 40MHz channel and the average frequency space stream utilization rate of the main 20MHz channel and the auxiliary 20MHz channel in the 40MHz channel; the average frequency space flow utilization rate of the 40MHz channel is a linear arithmetic mean value of the frequency space flow utilization rate of the main 20MHz channel and the frequency space flow utilization rate of the auxiliary 20MHz channel in the 40MHz channel;

if the set bandwidth channel is an 80MHz channel, the difference comprises a difference obtained by respectively subtracting the average frequency space stream utilization rate of the main 20MHz channel and the auxiliary 20MHz channel in the auxiliary 80MHz channel and two 20MHz channels contained in the auxiliary 40MHz channel in the auxiliary 80MHz channel from the average frequency space stream utilization rate of the auxiliary 80MHz channel; the average frequency space stream utilization for the sub-80 MHz channel is a linear arithmetic mean of the frequency space stream utilizations for the 4 20MHz channels in the sub-80 MHz channel.

With reference to the first aspect or any one of the first to the third possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner, the frequency-space stream utilization rate is represented by a formula

To obtain wherein N_maxSSIs the maximum number of streams per Resource Unit (RU), N_RUIs to specify the number of resource blocks on the channel, N_{ss，s，j，i}Is during the i-th Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) busy period T_iNumber of Nss streams, RU, utilized on jth RU in the s time sub-segment in_s，jIs in the s time sub-segment at the jEach RU, T_busyIs the length of time the channel is busy as determined by the CCA.

In a second aspect, a load information receiving method is provided, which includes:

a station STA receives load information elements sent by an access point AP;

the STA acquires indication information indicating a frequency space stream utilization rate from the load information element, where the frequency space stream utilization rate includes a frequency space stream utilization rate of each unit bandwidth channel within a usable bandwidth of the AP, and the frequency space stream utilization rate is a ratio of a space stream occupied by a frequency resource block allocated on the unit bandwidth channel for transmitting data to a maximum space stream supported by an antenna of the AP;

and the STA determines the AP needing to be accessed according to the frequency space flow utilization rate.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a primary20MHz channel, a secondary40MHz channel, and a secondary80MHz channel, the indication information includes:

With reference to the second aspect, in a second possible implementation manner, when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a primary20MHz channel, a secondary40MHz channel, and a secondary80MHz channel, the indication information includes:

With reference to the second aspect, in a third possible implementation manner, when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a main 20MHz channel and a set bandwidth channel, the indication information includes:

frequency space flow utilization of the primary20MHz channel;

If the set bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, the difference is 0;

With reference to the second aspect or any one of the first to the third possible implementation manners of the second aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner, the frequency-space stream utilization rate is expressed by a formula

To obtain wherein N_maxSSIs the maximum number of streams per Resource Unit (RU), N_RUIs to specify the number of resource blocks on the channel, N_{ss，s，j，i}Is in the ith CCA busy period T_iNumber of Nss streams, RU, utilized on jth RU in the s time sub-segment in_s，jIs the jth RU, T in the s time sub-segment_busyIs the CCA busy time length.

In a third aspect, an access point is provided, which includes:

a measuring module, configured to measure a frequency space stream utilization rate of each unit bandwidth channel within a usable bandwidth of the AP within a set time range, where the frequency space stream utilization rate is a ratio of a space stream occupied by a frequency resource block allocated on the unit bandwidth channel for transmitting data to a maximum space stream supported by an antenna of the AP;

an adding module, configured to add indication information indicating the frequency space stream utilization to a load information element;

and the sending module is used for sending the load information element to the station STA.

With reference to the third aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a primary20MHz channel, a secondary40MHz channel, and a secondary80MHz channel, the adding module is specifically configured to: the frequency space stream utilization rate of the primary20MHz channel and the frequency space stream utilization rate of the secondary20MHz channel;

the average frequency space stream utilization of the secondary80MHz channel and the difference between the average frequency space stream utilization of each 20MHz channel in the secondary80MHz channel relative to the average utilization of the secondary80MHz channel, wherein the average frequency space stream utilization of the secondary80MHz channel is a linear arithmetic average of the frequency space stream utilizations of 4 20MHz channels in the secondary80MHz channel;

as indication information to be added to the load information element.

With reference to the third aspect, in a second possible implementation manner, when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a primary20MHz channel, a secondary40MHz channel, and a secondary80MHz channel, the adding module is specifically configured to: the frequency space stream utilization rate of the primary20MHz channel and the frequency space stream utilization rate of the secondary20MHz channel;

the frequency space flow utilization rate of each 20MHz channel in the auxiliary 80MHz channel is respectively different from the frequency space flow utilization rates of two 20MHz channels in the main 20MH channel, the auxiliary 20MHz channel and the auxiliary 40MHz channel;

as indication information to be added to the load information element.

With reference to the third aspect, in a third possible implementation manner, when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a main 20MHz channel and a set bandwidth channel, the adding module is specifically configured to: a frequency space stream utilization rate of a primary20MHz channel within the usable bandwidth;

If the set bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, the difference is 0;

if the set bandwidth channel is an 80MHz channel, the difference comprises a difference obtained by respectively subtracting the average frequency space stream utilization rate of the main 20MHz channel and the auxiliary 20MHz channel in the auxiliary 80MHz channel and two 20MHz channels contained in the auxiliary 40MHz channel in the auxiliary 80MHz channel from the average frequency space stream utilization rate of the auxiliary 80MHz channel; the average frequency space stream utilization of the secondary80MHz channel is a linear arithmetic mean of the frequency space stream utilization of 4 20MHz channels in the secondary80MHz channel;

as indication information to be added to the load information element.

With reference to the third aspect, or any one of the first to third possible implementation manners of the third aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner, the measurement module is further configured to use a formula to pass the measurement result

Obtaining the frequency space flow utilization rate, wherein N_maxSSIs the maximum number of streams per Resource Unit (RU), N_RUIs to specify the number of resource blocks on the channel, N_{ss，s，j，i}Is in the ith CCA busy period T_iNumber of Nss streams, RU, utilized on jth RU in the s time sub-segment in_s，jIs the jth RU, T in the s time sub-segment_busyIs the CCA busy time length.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a station comprising:

a receiving module, configured to receive a load information element sent by an access point AP;

an indication information obtaining module, configured to obtain, from the load information element, indication information indicating a frequency space stream utilization rate, where the frequency space stream utilization rate includes a frequency space stream utilization rate of each unit bandwidth channel within a usable bandwidth of the AP, and the frequency space stream utilization rate is a ratio of a space stream occupied by a frequency resource block allocated on the unit bandwidth channel for transmitting data to a maximum space stream supported by an antenna of the AP;

and the selection module is used for determining the AP needing to be accessed according to the frequency space flow utilization rate.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a primary20MHz channel, a secondary40MHz channel, and a secondary80MHz channel, the indication information obtaining module is specifically configured to obtain, from the load information element: the frequency space stream utilization rate of the primary20MHz channel and the frequency space stream utilization rate of the secondary20MHz channel;

as indication information indicating the frequency space stream utilization.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner, when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a primary20MHz channel, a secondary40MHz channel, and a secondary80MHz channel, the indication information obtaining module is specifically configured to obtain, from the load information element:

as indication information indicating the frequency space stream utilization.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner, 19 the station according to claim 16, wherein when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a main 20MHz channel and a set bandwidth channel, the indication information obtaining module is specifically configured to obtain, from the load information element:

frequency space flow utilization of the primary20MHz channel;

If the set bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, the difference is 0;

as indication information indicating the frequency space stream utilization.

One or two of the above technical solutions have at least the following technical effects:

by adopting the scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, the load information sent by the AP to the STA comprises the frequency space stream utilization rate of each 20MHz channel in the bandwidth, and in an Overlapped Basic Service Set (OBSS) area between two BSSs, the STA can select the BSS with relatively small access load amount according to the refined load information (comprising the load information of the frequency space stream utilization rate of each 20MHz channel in the bandwidth), thereby effectively relieving the problem of unbalanced load of the two BSSs and effectively improving the resource utilization rate.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method for sending load information according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an 802.11ax dense scene;

fig. 3 is a schematic flowchart of a method for sending load information according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of an access point according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a station according to a seventh embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of an access point according to an eighth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a station according to a ninth embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are some, but not all, embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

The embodiments of the present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the drawings attached hereto.

Example one

As shown in fig. 1, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for sending load information, where the method specifically includes:

step 101, an Access Point (AP) measures a frequency space stream utilization rate of each unit bandwidth channel within a usable bandwidth of the AP within a set time range, where the frequency space stream utilization rate is a ratio of a space stream occupied by a frequency resource block allocated on the unit bandwidth channel for transmitting data to a maximum space stream supported by an antenna of the AP;

in this embodiment, the frequency space stream utilization of the channel is: the channel conveys the ratio of the spatial stream actually occupied by the data to the maximum spatial stream that the access point is capable of providing.

When the method of this embodiment is applied to a WIFI system, based on a specific hardware implementation, the AP generally allocates available bandwidth with 20MHz as a minimum granularity unit, so channels within the available bandwidth may include: a primary20MHz channel, a secondary40MHz channel, and a secondary80MHz channel. Then the channels referred to by each 20MHz channel in this embodiment include: the channel selection method comprises the following steps of a main 20MHz channel, an auxiliary 20MHz channel, 2 20MHz channels in an auxiliary 40MHz channel (specifically comprising the main 20MHz channel and the auxiliary 20MHz channel), and 4 20MHz channels in an auxiliary 80MHz channel (specifically comprising two 20MHz channels included in the main 20MHz channel, the auxiliary 20MHz channel and the auxiliary 40MHz channel in the auxiliary 80MHz channel).

In a specific usage environment, the maximum spatial stream is the maximum number of spatial streams that can be distinguished between the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna, and is the minimum value of the total number of transmitting antennas and the total number of receiving antennas. Since the protocol generally specifies the maximum spatial streams that can be supported according to the number of antennas of the AP, the maximum spatial streams in this example can be defined as: the maximum spatial streams that the antennas of the AP can distinguish.

Step 102, adding indication information indicating the frequency space stream utilization rate into a load information element (BSSload element);

in the prior art, BSS load element generally carries the frequency space stream utilization: a frequency space stream utilization of a secondary20MHz channel, a frequency space stream utilization of a secondary40MHz channel, and a frequency space stream utilization of a secondary80MHz channel. According to the scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, on the basis of the originally carried frequency space flow utilization rate, the channels with the bandwidth exceeding 20MHz are further measured and indicated, and the frequency space flow utilization rate of each 20MHz channel in the channels with the bandwidth exceeding 20MHz is indicated.

In this embodiment, in order to carry the indication information, a preset field may be added in the BSS load element in advance, and then when the indication information is needed, the obtained indication information may be directly added to the preset field.

Step 103, transmitting the load information element to a Station (STA).

After the station receives the indication information, it can determine the frequency space stream utilization rate of each unit bandwidth channel (for example, 20MHz channel) in the bandwidth according to the indication information. In the scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, the frequency space stream utilization rate parameter provided for the STA is more detailed compared with the scheme in the prior art, so that after the STA determines the frequency space stream utilization rate of each 20MHz channel, the STA can determine available resources, and further determine the AP to be accessed. Therefore, the load among the APs is balanced, and the resource distribution is more reasonable.

Taking fig. 2 as an example, under a dense scenario specified by 802.11ax, the number of access STAs in a first BSS (corresponding to area 1 in fig. 2) is significantly greater than that of a second BSS (corresponding to area 2 in fig. 2), the load of the first BSS is higher than that of the second BSS, and if a load indication scheme in the prior art is adopted, a station cannot determine the actual utilization rate of resources of the BSSs, so that an AP that can be intervened correctly cannot be determined, and thus a high-load BSS causes the STAs to wait for the resources to be unallocated later, and the resources of an adjacent low-load BSS are not fully utilized.

By adopting the scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, the load information sent by the AP to the STA comprises the frequency space flow utilization rate of each unit bandwidth channel in the available bandwidth of the AP, and in the OBSS area between the two BSSs, the STA can select to access the second BSS according to the refined load information (the frequency space flow utilization rate of each unit bandwidth channel in the available bandwidth of the AP), so that the problem of unbalanced load of the two BSSs can be effectively relieved, and the resource utilization rate can be effectively improved.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the unit bandwidth may be set to a reasonable value according to specific requirements. For example, in an existing WIFI system, a unit bandwidth channel meeting hardware implementation requirements is 20 MHz. The scheme provided by the embodiment of the present invention is further described below by taking the channel with unit bandwidth as a 20MHz channel as an example:

in the embodiment of the present invention, the frequency space stream utilization rate of each 20MHz channel in the available bandwidth of the AP can be indicated in different ways, and several optimized implementations are provided as follows, specifically including:

example two

In this embodiment, the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the available bandwidth includes a primary20MHz channel, a secondary40MHz channel, and a secondary80MHz channel, and the indication information includes:

frequency space stream utilization of the primary20MHz channel and frequency space stream utilization of the secondary20MHz channel;

The specific implementation can be as follows:

a preset domain is set in a BSS Load Element defined by an 802.11ax system for carrying information indicating the frequency space flow utilization rate of each 20MHz channel (the specific structure of a BSS Load information Element (BSS Load Element) for implementing the example scheme is shown in table 3), and the definition of each domain in the BSS Load Element is respectively:

TABLE 3

Element ID: for indicating that the Media Access Control frame (MAC frame) is a BSS load element MAC frame;

length: indicating the length of the BSS load element MAC frame;

OFDMA/MU-MIMO capable STA count (corresponding to STA count in Table 3): for indicating a number of users supporting reception of 801.11ax OFDMA/MU-MIMO in the BSS;

Freq/Spatial utilization over primary CH (corresponding to primary CH in Table 3): for indicating the frequency-space stream utilization of a primary20MHz channel (primary20 MHz-channel);

Freq/Spatial atomization over secondary20MHz CH (corresponding to secondary20MHz CH in Table 3): for indicating frequency-space stream utilization of a primary20MHz channel;

Freq/Spatial atomization over secondary40MHz CH (corresponding to secondary40MHz CH in Table 3): for indicating frequency-space stream utilization of a primary 40MHz channel (primary20 MHz-channel); wherein, the average frequency space stream utilization rate of the auxiliary 40MHz channel is the linear arithmetic mean value of the frequency space stream utilization rates of 2 20MHz channels in the auxiliary 40MHz channel;

Freq/Spatial atomization over secondary80MHz CH (corresponding to secondary80MHz CH in Table 3): for indicating frequency-space stream utilization of a primary 80MHz channel (primary20 MHz-channel); wherein the average frequency space stream utilization of the secondary80MHz channel is a linear arithmetic average of the frequency space stream utilization of the 4 20MHz channels within the secondary80MHz channel;

utilization offset over reach 20MHz in secondary40MHz (corresponding to 20MHz secondary40MHz in Table 3): for indicating a difference in the frequency-space stream utilization for each 20MHz channel within the secondary40MHz channel relative to the average utilization for the secondary40MHz channel;

in this embodiment, the difference value for each 20MHz channel may be represented by 4 bits, 2 20MHz channels within the sub-40 MHz, the difference value indication may be represented by 8 bits (1byte) in total;

utilization offset over reach 20MHz in secondary80 Hz (corresponding to 20MHz secondary80 Hz in Table 3): for indicating a difference in the frequency-space stream utilization of each 20MHz channel within a secondary80MHz channel relative to the average utilization of the secondary80MHz channel;

in an embodiment, the difference for each 20MHz channel is represented by 4 bits, 4 20MHz channels within the sub-80 MHz, the difference indicating a total of 16 bits (4 x 4 bit-16 bit-2 bytes). To further save overhead, the difference in the secondary80MHz channel indicates increased granularity, which may be 2 bits per difference of 20MHz channel, with a total of 8 bits (1byte) for differences of 4 channels;

in this example, the frequency-space flow utilization rate is an average value, and specifically may be: { RU within a bandwidth channel_s，jN on_ssThe number of streams calculates the average of the utilization rates of the frequency space streams of the bandwidth channel, and the specific calculation formula may be:

N_maxSSis the maximum number of streams per Resource Unit (RU) (e.g., 8 streams for 8 antennas), N_RUIs to specify the number of resource blocks on the channel, N_{ss，s，j，i}Is in the ith CCA busy period T_iNumber of Nss streams, RU, utilized on jth RU in the s time sub-segment in_s，jIs the jth RU, T in the s time sub-segment_busyIs the CCA busy time length (otherwise known as: T)_busyIs the length of time the Channel is busy as determined by Clear Channel Assessment (CCA).

In this embodiment, in order to be compatible with the format of the original BSS load element and save the overhead, the frequency-space stream utilization rate of each 20MHz channel is embodied in a differential manner, and in specific implementation, the method may be that:

one, the difference may be a difference obtained by subtracting, for example:

the frequency utilization rate difference of each 20MHz channel in the auxiliary 40MHz channel is an absolute value difference obtained by subtracting the average frequency space flow utilization rate of the auxiliary 40MHz channel from the frequency space flow utilization rate of each 20MHz channel; the frequency utilization difference of each 20MHz channel in the sub 80MHz channel is the absolute value difference obtained by subtracting the average frequency space flow utilization of the sub 80MHz channel from the frequency space flow utilization of the 20MHz channel.

The magnitude of the absolute difference may specifically be indicated according to a predefined granularity, such as a unit granularity of 0.0625, and a 4-bit difference indication range of [ -0.5, 0.5). If expressed in terms of a unit granularity of 0.125, which is one-times larger, then the 2-bit difference indication range is also [ -0.5, 0.5), but the precision is halved.

The difference may also be a proportional difference obtained by dividing, for example:

the frequency utilization rate difference of each 20MHz channel in the auxiliary 40MHz channel is the ratio difference obtained by dividing the frequency space stream utilization rate of the 20MHz channel by the average frequency space stream utilization rate of the auxiliary 40MHz channel; the frequency utilization difference of each 20MHz channel in the sub 80MHz channel is the ratio difference of the frequency space stream utilization of the 20MHz channel divided by the average frequency space stream utilization of the sub 80MHz channel.

Specifically, the size of the scale difference may be indicated according to a predetermined granularity, for example, if the unit granularity is 1.25 times larger than the reference value, and the unit granularity is 1/1.25 times smaller than the reference value, then the scale difference indicating range of 4 bits is [0.1, 10) times. If unit particle size in terms of 1.5 times larger than the reference value represents a multiple larger than the reference value and 1/1.5 times the unit particle size represents a multiple smaller than the reference value, then the 2-bit scale difference indication range is also [0.1, 10) times larger, but the precision is halved.

EXAMPLE III

In this embodiment, the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a primary20MHz channel, a secondary40MHz channel, and a secondary80MHz channel, then the indication information includes:

a difference in frequency space stream utilization for each 20MHz channel within an auxiliary 40MHz channel relative to the frequency space stream utilization for the primary20MHz channel and the auxiliary 20MHz channel;

the frequency space stream utilization of each 20MHz channel within the secondary80MHz channel is the difference between the frequency space stream utilization of the two 20MHz channels of the primary20MH channel, the secondary20MHz channel, and the secondary40MHz channel, respectively.

To adopt the idea of trying to follow the BSS load Element of the conventional 802.11ac, in this embodiment, the format of the BSSLoad Element may be the format shown in table 4, where the fields from left to right are similar to those of the BSS load Element of 802.11ac, where each field is defined as:

TABLE 4

Element ID: indicating that the MAC frame is a BSS load element MAC frame;

length: indicating the length of the BSS load element MAC frame;

OFDMA/MU-MIMO capable STA count: for indicating a number of users supporting reception of 801.11axOFDMA/MU-MIMO in the BSS;

Freq/Spatial utilization over primary CH: for indicating the frequency-space stream utilization of a primary20MHz channel (primary20 MHz-channel);

Freq/Spatial excitation over secondary20MHz CH: for indicating frequency-space stream utilization of a primary20MHz channel;

in addition to the above fields similar to BSS load element of 802.11ac, two fields have been added:

utilization offset over reach 20MHz in secondary40 MHz: a difference value indicating the frequency space stream utilization rate of each 20MHz channel in the secondary40MHz channel relative to the frequency space stream utilization rates of the primary20MHz channel and the secondary20MHz channel (the difference value is obtained by making a difference between the frequency space stream utilization rate of the 20MHz channel in the secondary40MHz channel and the frequency space stream utilization rates of the primary20MHz channel and the secondary20MHz channel in a one-to-one correspondence); the difference value of each 20MHz channel is represented by 4 bits; for a total of 8 bits (1 byte).

The method for calculating the difference (difference 1 for sub-40 MHz _1 and difference 2 for sub-40 MHz _2) between the frequency space stream utilization of each 20MHz channel in the sub-40 MHz channel (two 20MHz channels are included in the sub-40 MHz channel, and sub-40 MHz _1 and sub-40 MHz _2) and the frequency space stream utilization of the main 20MHz channel and the sub-20 MHz channel may be:

secondary40MHz _ 1-primary 20MHz channel difference 1;

the secondary40MHz _ 2-secondary 20MHz channel equals the difference 2.

Utilization offset over reach 20MHz in secondary80 Hz: the frequency space stream utilization rate of each 20MHz channel in the auxiliary 80MHz channel is respectively different from the frequency space stream utilization rates of two 20MHz channels in the main 20MH channel, the auxiliary 20MHz channel and the auxiliary 40MHz channel (the frequency space stream utilization rates of 4 20MHz channels in the auxiliary 80MHz channel are different from the frequency space stream utilization rates of two 20MHz channels in the main 20MHz channel, the auxiliary 20MHz channel and the auxiliary 40MHz channel in a one-to-one correspondence manner to obtain the difference values); the difference for each 20MHz channel is represented by 4 bits, and the 80MHz channel includes a total of 16 bits (2bytes) for the 4 20MHz channels. To further save overhead, the granularity is increased by the difference within the sub-80 MHz large bandwidth, which may be 2 bits for each difference of 20MHz channels, and 8 bits (1byte) for the differences of 4 channels.

The calculation method of the difference between the frequency space stream utilization rates of each 20MHz channel in the secondary80MHz channels (the secondary80MHz channels include 4 20MHz channels, the secondary80MHz _1, the secondary80MHz _2, the secondary80MHz _3, and the secondary80MHz _4) and the frequency space stream utilization rates of the two 20MHz channels in the primary20MHz channel, the secondary20MHz channel, and the secondary40MHz channel (the secondary80MHz _1 corresponds to the difference 1, the secondary80MHz _2 corresponds to the difference 2, the secondary80MHz _3 corresponds to the difference 3, and the secondary80MHz _4 corresponds to the difference 4) may be:

secondary80MHz _ 1-primary 20MHz channel difference 1;

the secondary80MHz _ 2-secondary 20MHz channel is the difference 2;

the difference value of 3 is one channel from 80MHz _3 to 40MHz _ 1;

the secondary80MHz _ 4-secondary 40MHz _2 channel is the difference 4.

N_maxSSis the maximum number of streams per Resource Unit (RU), N_RUIs an assignment letterNumber of resource blocks on the channel, N_{ss，s，j，i}Is in the ith CCA busy period T_iNumber of Nss streams, RU, utilized on jth RU in the s time sub-segment in_s，jIs the jth RU, T in the s time sub-segment_busyIs the CCA busy time length.

one, the difference may be a difference obtained by subtracting, for example:

the utilization rates of the frequency space stream of the main 20MHz channel and the auxiliary 20MHz channel are subtracted from the utilization rates of the 2 20MHz channels in the bandwidth of the auxiliary 40MHz channel to obtain absolute value difference values (the difference values are obtained by the one-to-one correspondence between the frequency space stream utilization rate of the 20MHz channel in the auxiliary 40MHz channel and the frequency space stream utilization rates of the main 20MHz channel and the auxiliary 20MHz channel). And the utilization rates of the two 20MHz channels in the main 20MHz channel, the auxiliary 20MHz channel and the auxiliary 40MHz channel are subtracted from the utilization rates of the 4 20MHz channels in the auxiliary 80MHz channel bandwidth to obtain an absolute value difference (the difference is obtained by the one-to-one correspondence between the frequency space stream utilization rates of the 4 20MHz channels in the auxiliary 80MHz channel and the frequency space stream utilization rates of the two 20MHz channels in the main 20MHz channel, the auxiliary 20MHz channel and the auxiliary 40MHz channel). The magnitude of the absolute difference is then indicated according to a predefined granularity, such as per a unit granularity of 0.0625, then a 4-bit difference indication range is [ -0.5, 0.5). If expressed in terms of a unit granularity of 0.125, which is one-times larger, then the 2-bit difference indication range is also [ -0.5, 0.5), but the precision is halved.

the utilization rates of 2 20MHz channels in the sub-40 MHz channel bandwidth are divided by the frequency space stream utilization rates of the main 20MHz channel and the sub-20 MHz channel respectively to obtain a difference (the difference is obtained by making a one-to-one correspondence between the frequency space stream utilization rate of the 20MHz channel in the sub-40 MHz channel and the frequency space stream utilization rates of the main 20MHz channel and the sub-20 MHz channel), and the utilization rates of 4 20MHz channels in the sub-80 MHz channel bandwidth are divided by the utilization rates of the main 20MHz channel, the sub-20 MHz channel, and the difference is obtained by making a one-to-one correspondence between the utilization rates of two 20MHz channels in the sub-40 MHz channel (the difference is obtained by making a one-to-one correspondence between the frequency space stream utilization rates of 4 20MHz channels in the sub-80 MHz channel and the frequency space stream utilization rates of two 20MHz channels in the main 20MHz channel, the sub-20 MHz. Then, the size of the scale difference is indicated according to the predetermined granularity, for example, the unit granularity is 1.25 times larger than the reference value, and the unit granularity is 1/1.25 times smaller than the reference value, so that the 4-bit scale difference is indicated in a range of [0.1, 10) times. If unit particle size in terms of 1.5 times larger than the reference value represents a multiple larger than the reference value and 1/1.5 times the unit particle size represents a multiple smaller than the reference value, then the 2-bit scale difference indication range is also [0.1, 10) times larger, but the precision is halved.

Example four

In this embodiment, if the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel and it is not determined which channels are specifically included in the bandwidth, the uncertain channel may be set as the set bandwidth channel, and the indication information may be:

frequency space flow utilization of the primary20MHz channel;

setting a total frequency space flow utilization rate of a bandwidth channel, wherein the total frequency space flow utilization rate is a linear arithmetic mean of the frequency space flow utilization rates of at least one 20MHz channel in the set bandwidth channel;

If the set bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, the difference is 0;

if the set bandwidth channel is an 80MHz channel, the difference comprises a difference obtained by respectively subtracting the average frequency space stream utilization rate of the 80MHz channel from the two 20MHz channels contained in the main 20MHz channel and the auxiliary 20MHz channel in the 80MHz channel and the two 20MHz channels contained in the auxiliary 40MHz channel in the auxiliary 80MHz channel; the average frequency space stream utilization for the 80MHz channel is a linear arithmetic average of the frequency space stream utilization for 4 of the 20MHz channels in the 80MHz channel.

In order to adopt the idea of BSS load Element that uses the conventional 802.11ac as far as possible, in this embodiment, the format of BSSLoad Element may be set to the format shown in table 5, where the left-to-right field and the field similar to BSSLoad Element in 802.11ac are respectively defined as:

TABLE 5

Element ID: for indicating that the MAC frame is a BSS load element MAC frame

Length: indicating the length of the BSS load element MAC frame;

average Freq/Spatial utilization over BW: the channel allocation method comprises the steps of indicating an average frequency space stream utilization rate of a set bandwidth channel, wherein the average frequency space stream utilization rate is a linear arithmetic mean of the frequency space stream utilization rates of at least one 20MHz channel in the set bandwidth channel;

ligation offset over reach 20MHz with BW: a difference value indicating the frequency space stream utilization of each 20MHz channel in the set bandwidth channel relative to the total frequency space stream utilization; wherein:

if the set bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, the difference is 0; then the difference may not be indicated and the overhead is 0 bits;

if the set bandwidth channel is a 40MHz channel, the difference value comprises a difference value obtained by the difference between the average frequency space stream utilization rate of the 40MHz channel and the average frequency space stream utilization rate of the main 20MHz channel and the auxiliary 20MHz channel in the 40MHz channel; the average frequency space flow utilization rate of the 40MHz channel is a linear arithmetic mean value of the frequency space flow utilization rate of the main 20MHz channel and the frequency space flow utilization rate of the auxiliary 20MHz channel in the 40MHz channel; the difference of the primary20MHz channel and the secondary20MHz channel with respect to the two linear averages is represented by 4 bits, respectively, and then a total of 8 bits (1byte) is represented;

if the bandwidth is 80MHz, a main 20MHz channel, an auxiliary 20MHz channel and an auxiliary 40MHz channel are included; the difference value comprises a difference value obtained by difference between the average frequency space flow utilization rate of the main 20MHz channel and the auxiliary 20MHz channel in the auxiliary 80MHz channel and the average frequency space flow utilization rate of the two 20MHz channels contained in the auxiliary 40MHz channel in the auxiliary 80MHz channel; the average frequency space stream utilization for the sub-80 MHz channel is a linear arithmetic mean of the frequency space stream utilizations for the 4 20MHz channels in the sub-80 MHz channel.

If the bandwidth is 160MHz, including the primary20MHz channel, and the secondary20MHz channel, the secondary40MHz channel, and the secondary80MHz channel, there are 8 20MHz channels, and the difference of the 8 20MHz channels with respect to the linear average of all channels is represented by 4 bits, respectively, and then a total of 32 bits (4bytes) is represented. To further reduce overhead, 8 channels can be represented by 2 bits for each difference value of 20MHz channels, for a total of 16 bits (2 bytes).

In this embodiment, the frequency space flow utilization is formulated by

To obtain wherein N_maxSSIs the maximum number of streams per Resource Unit (RU), N_RUIs to specify the number of resource blocks on the channel, N_{ss，s，j，i}Is in the ith CCA busy period T_iN utilized on jth RU in s time sub-segment_ssNumber of streams, RU_s，jIs the jth RU, T in the s time sub-segment_busyIs the CCA busy time length.

In this embodiment, in order to be compatible with the format of the original BSS load element and save the overhead, the frequency space stream utilization rate of the 20MHz channel in the bandwidth channel is embodied in a differential manner, and in specific implementation, the method may be:

the difference, which may be a subtracted difference, for a plurality of 20MHz channels within the extended bandwidth is calculated and the magnitude of the absolute difference is then indicated according to a predefined granularity, e.g., expressed in terms of a unit granularity of 0.0625, then a 4-bit difference is indicated in the range of [ -0.5, 0.5). If expressed in terms of a unit granularity of 0.125, which is one-times larger, then the 2-bit difference indication range is also [ -0.5, 0.5), but the precision is halved.

The difference may be a ratio difference obtained by dividing, and then the size of the ratio difference is indicated according to a predetermined granularity, for example, the unit granularity is 1.25 times larger than the reference value, and the unit granularity is 1/1.25 times smaller than the reference value, so that the 4-bit ratio difference indicates a range of [0.1, 10) times. If unit particle size in terms of 1.5 times larger than the reference value represents a multiple larger than the reference value and 1/1.5 times the unit particle size represents a multiple smaller than the reference value, then the 2-bit scale difference indication range is also [0.1, 10) times larger, but the precision is halved.

EXAMPLE five

As shown in fig. 3, another load information receiving method is further provided in an embodiment of the present invention, where the method includes:

step 301, a Station (STA) receives a load information element (BSS load element) sent by an Access Point (AP);

step 302, the STA obtains indication information indicating a frequency space stream utilization rate from the load information element, where the frequency space stream utilization rate includes a frequency space stream utilization rate of each unit bandwidth channel within a usable bandwidth of the AP, and the frequency space stream utilization rate is a ratio of a space stream occupied by a frequency resource block allocated on the unit bandwidth channel for transmitting data to a maximum space stream supported by an antenna of the AP;

Step 303, the STA determines an AP to be accessed according to the frequency space stream utilization rate.

Based on the specific indication information forming manner in the second, third, and fourth embodiments, the STA may use a corresponding manner to obtain the frequency space stream utilization rate from the preset domain of the BSS load element, and the following method for obtaining the frequency space stream utilization rate by the STA according to the scheme provided in the second embodiment is described in detail:

the STA determines that the received frame is a BSS load Element MAC frame according to the Element ID;

then obtaining Length to determine the Length of the BSS load element MAC frame;

and finally, acquiring parameter values in frequency/Spatial optimization over secondary20MHz CH, frequency/Spatial optimization over secondary40MHz CH, frequency/Spatial optimization over secondary80MHz CH, Utilization offset over access 20MHz in secondary40MHz and Utilization offset over access 20MHz in secondary80 Hz according to the length, and analyzing the Utilization rate of each 20MHz channel frequency space stream from the parameter values according to a pre-known mode that an AP side indicates the Utilization rate of each 20MHz channel frequency space stream.

The indication information in the embodiment of the present invention may be implemented by the following examples, which specifically include:

when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a primary20MHz channel, a secondary40MHz channel, and a secondary80MHz channel, the indication information includes:

the frequency space stream utilization rate of the main 20MHz channel and the frequency space stream utilization rate of the auxiliary 20MHz channel in the bandwidth;

Secondly, when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a primary20MHz channel, a secondary40MHz channel, and a secondary80MHz channel, the indication information includes:

Thirdly, when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a main 20MHz channel and a set bandwidth channel, the indication information includes:

frequency space flow utilization of a primary20MHz channel within the bandwidth;

setting a total frequency space flow utilization rate of a bandwidth channel in the bandwidth, wherein the total frequency space flow utilization rate is a linear arithmetic mean value of the frequency space flow utilization rate of at least one 20MHz channel in the set bandwidth channel;

If the set bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, the difference is 0;

In this embodiment, the specific calculation of the frequency space flow utilization rate can be formulated by

EXAMPLE six

As shown in fig. 4, an embodiment of the present invention provides an access point, where the access point 400 includes:

a measuring module 401, configured to measure, within a set time range, a frequency space stream utilization rate of each unit bandwidth channel within a usable bandwidth of the AP, where the frequency space stream utilization rate is a ratio of a space stream occupied by a frequency resource block allocated on the unit bandwidth channel for data transmission to a maximum space stream supported by an antenna of the AP;

in this embodiment, the measurement module 401 is also used to pass the formula

An adding module 402, configured to add indication information indicating the frequency space stream utilization to a load information element;

a sending module 403, configured to send the load information element to a station STA.

when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a primary20MHz channel, a secondary40MHz channel, and a secondary80MHz channel, the adding module is specifically configured to: the frequency space stream utilization rate of the primary20MHz channel and the frequency space stream utilization rate of the secondary20MHz channel;

as indication information to be added to the load information element.

Secondly, when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a main 20MHz channel, an auxiliary 40MHz channel, and an auxiliary 80MHz channel, the adding module is specifically configured to: the frequency space stream utilization rate of the primary20MHz channel and the frequency space stream utilization rate of the secondary20MHz channel;

as indication information to be added to the load information element.

Thirdly, when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a main 20MHz channel and a set bandwidth channel, the adding module is specifically configured to: a frequency space stream utilization rate of a primary20MHz channel within the usable bandwidth;

If the set bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, the difference is 0;

as indication information to be added to the load information element.

EXAMPLE seven

As shown in fig. 5, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a station, where the station 500 includes:

a receiving module 501, configured to receive a load information element sent by an access point AP;

an indication information obtaining module 502, configured to obtain, from the load information element, indication information indicating a frequency space stream utilization rate, where the frequency space stream utilization rate includes a frequency space stream utilization rate of each unit bandwidth channel within a usable bandwidth of the AP, and the frequency space stream utilization rate is a ratio of a space stream occupied by a frequency resource block allocated on the unit bandwidth channel for transmitting data, to a maximum space stream supported by an antenna of the AP;

a selecting module 503, configured to determine an AP that needs to be accessed according to the frequency space stream utilization rate.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the indication information obtaining module may obtain the indication information in several ways, including:

when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the available bandwidth includes a primary20MHz channel, a secondary40MHz channel, and a secondary80MHz channel, the indication information obtaining module is specifically configured to obtain, from the load information element: the frequency space stream utilization rate of the primary20MHz channel and the frequency space stream utilization rate of the secondary20MHz channel;

as indication information indicating the frequency space stream utilization.

When the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a main 20MHz channel, an auxiliary 40MHz channel, and an auxiliary 80MHz channel, the indication information obtaining module is specifically configured to obtain from the load information element:

as indication information indicating the frequency space stream utilization.

When the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the available bandwidth includes a main 20MHz channel and a set bandwidth channel, the indication information obtaining module is specifically configured to obtain from the load information element:

frequency space flow utilization of the primary20MHz channel;

If the set bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, the difference is 0;

as indication information indicating the frequency space stream utilization.

All frequency space stream utilizations in this embodiment can be obtained by the following formula:

wherein N is_maxSSIs the maximum number of streams per Resource Unit (RU), N_RUIs to specify the number of resource blocks on the channel, N_{ss，s，j，i}Is in the ith CCA busy period T_iWithin the s-th time sub-segment within the j-th RNumber of Nss flows, RU, utilized on U_s，jIs the jth RU, T in the s time sub-segment_busyIs the CCA busy time length.

Example eight

As shown in fig. 6, an embodiment of the present invention provides an access point, where the access point 600 includes:

a processor 601, configured to measure a frequency space stream utilization rate of each unit bandwidth channel within a usable bandwidth of the AP within a set time range, where the frequency space stream utilization rate is a ratio of a space stream occupied by a frequency resource block allocated on the unit bandwidth channel for transmitting data to a maximum space stream supported by an antenna of the AP; and adding indication information indicating the frequency space stream utilization to a load information element;

in this embodiment, the processor 60l is also configured to formulate

A transceiver 602, configured to transmit the load information element to a station STA.

when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the available bandwidth includes a primary20MHz channel, a secondary40MHz channel, and a secondary80MHz channel, the processor 601 is specifically configured to: the frequency space stream utilization rate of the primary20MHz channel and the frequency space stream utilization rate of the secondary20MHz channel;

as indication information to be added to the load information element.

Secondly, when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a main 20MHz channel, an auxiliary 40MHz channel, and an auxiliary 80MHz channel, the processor 601 is specifically configured to: the frequency space stream utilization rate of the primary20MHz channel and the frequency space stream utilization rate of the secondary20MHz channel;

as indication information to be added to the load information element.

Thirdly, when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a main 20MHz channel and a set bandwidth channel, the processor 601 is specifically configured to: a frequency space stream utilization rate of a primary20MHz channel within the usable bandwidth;

If the set bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, the difference is 0;

as indication information to be added to the load information element.

Example nine

As shown in fig. 7, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a station, where the station 700 includes:

a transceiver 701 configured to receive a load information element transmitted by an access point AP;

a processor 702, configured to obtain indication information indicating a frequency space stream utilization rate from the load information element, where the frequency space stream utilization rate includes a frequency space stream utilization rate of each unit bandwidth channel within a usable bandwidth of the AP, and the frequency space stream utilization rate is a ratio of a space stream occupied by a frequency resource block allocated on the unit bandwidth channel for transmitting data to a maximum space stream supported by an antenna of the AP; and determining the AP needing to be accessed according to the frequency space flow utilization rate.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the frequency space stream utilization rate of each 20MHz channel in the available bandwidth of the AP may be indicated in different manners, and depending on the form of the frequency space stream utilization rate sent by the access point, the processor 702 in this embodiment may obtain the indication information in several manners, which specifically include:

when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the available bandwidth includes a primary20MHz channel, a secondary40MHz channel, and a secondary80MHz channel, the processor 702 is specifically configured to obtain, from the load information element: the frequency space stream utilization rate of the primary20MHz channel and the frequency space stream utilization rate of the secondary20MHz channel;

as indication information indicating the frequency space stream utilization.

Second, when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a main 20MHz channel, an auxiliary 40MHz channel, and an auxiliary 80MHz channel, the processor 702 is specifically configured to obtain, from the load information element:

as indication information indicating the frequency space stream utilization.

Thirdly, when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the available bandwidth includes a main 20MHz channel and a set bandwidth channel, the processor 702 is specifically configured to obtain from the load information element:

frequency space flow utilization of the primary20MHz channel;

If the set bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, the difference is 0;

as indication information indicating the frequency space stream utilization.

wherein N is_maxSSIs the maximum number of streams per Resource Unit (RU), N_RUIs to specify the number of resource blocks on the channel, N_{ss，s，j，i}Is in the ith CCA busy period T_iUtilized on jth RU within s time sub-segment withinNumber of NSs streams, RU_s，jIs the jth RU, T in the s time sub-segment_busyIs the CCA busy time length.

One or more technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application have at least the following technical effects:

due to the application of OFDMA and MU-MIMO in the prior art, resource blocks smaller than 20MHz within a 20MHz channel can be allocated to multiple users/spatial streams, and the spectrum and spatial utilization of each 20MHz channel are no longer the same and must be indicated separately. In the scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, the load information sent by the AP to the STA comprises the frequency space stream utilization rate of each 20MHz channel, so that after the STA of the station receives the frequency space stream utilization rate information, the frequency space stream utilization rate of each 20MHz channel can be determined according to the frequency space stream utilization rate information. In the scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, the frequency space stream utilization rate parameter provided for the STA is more detailed compared with the scheme in the prior art, so that after the STA determines the frequency space stream utilization rate of each 20MHz channel, the STA can determine available resources, and further determine the AP to be accessed. Therefore, the load among the APs is balanced, and the resource allocation is more reasonable.

The method of the present invention is not limited to the examples described in the specific embodiments, and those skilled in the art can derive other embodiments according to the technical solutions of the present invention, and also fall into the technical innovation scope of the present invention.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, if such modifications and variations of the present invention fall within the scope of the claims of the present invention and their equivalents, the present invention is also intended to include such modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A method for sending load information, the method comprising:

measuring the frequency space flow utilization rate of each unit bandwidth channel in the usable bandwidth of the AP by the AP in a set time range, wherein the frequency space flow utilization rate is the ratio of a space flow occupied by a frequency resource block allocated on the unit bandwidth channel for transmitting data relative to the maximum space flow supported by an antenna of the AP; the frequency space stream utilization rate is calculated according to Nss streams on { RUs, j } in a bandwidth channel, and RUs, j is the j resource unit RU in the s time sub-segment in the CCA busy time period;

and transmitting the load information element to the station STA.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a primary20MHz channel, a secondary40MHz channel, and a secondary80MHz channel, the indication information includes:

3. The method of claim 1, wherein when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a primary20MHz channel, a secondary40MHz channel, and a secondary80MHz channel, the indication information includes:

4. The method of claim 1, wherein when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a primary20MHz channel and a set bandwidth channel, the indication information includes:

If the set bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, the difference is 0;

if the set bandwidth channel is an 80MHz channel, the difference comprises a difference obtained by respectively subtracting the average frequency space stream utilization rate of the 80MHz channel from the two 20MHz channels contained in the main 20MHz channel and the auxiliary 20MHz channel in the 80MHz channel and the two 20MHz channels contained in the auxiliary 40MHz channel in the 80MHz channel; the average frequency space stream utilization for the 80MHz channel is a linear arithmetic average of the frequency space stream utilization for 4 of the 20MHz channels in the 80MHz channel.

5. The method according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the frequency space flow utilization is formulated by formula

To obtain wherein N_maxSSIs the maximum number of streams per resource unit RU, N_RUIs to specify the number of resource blocks on the channel, N_ss,s,j,iIs in the ith CCA busy period T_iNumber of Nss streams, RU, utilized on jth RU in the s time sub-segment in_s,jIs the jth RU in the s-th time sub-segment, N is the number of CCA busy periods in the total measurement period, T_busyIs CCA busy time length, seg is during the ith CCA busy period T_iTotal number of slots busy.

6. A method for receiving load information, the method comprising:

a station STA receives load information elements sent by an access point AP;

the STA acquires indication information indicating a frequency space stream utilization rate from the load information element, where the frequency space stream utilization rate includes a frequency space stream utilization rate of each unit bandwidth channel within a usable bandwidth of the AP, and the frequency space stream utilization rate is a ratio of a space stream occupied by a frequency resource block allocated on the unit bandwidth channel for transmitting data to a maximum space stream supported by an antenna of the AP; the frequency space stream utilization rate is calculated according to Nss streams on { RUs, j } in a bandwidth channel, and RUs, j is the j resource unit RU in the s time sub-segment in the CCA busy time period;

7. The method of claim 6, wherein when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a primary20MHz channel, a secondary40MHz channel, and a secondary80MHz channel, the indication information includes:

8. The method of claim 6, wherein when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a primary20MHz channel, a secondary40MHz channel, and a secondary80MHz channel, the indication information includes:

9. The method of claim 6, wherein when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a primary20MHz channel and a set bandwidth channel, the indication information includes:

frequency space flow utilization of the primary20MHz channel;

If the set bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, the difference is 0;

10. The method according to any of claims 6 to 9, wherein the frequency space flow utilization is formulated by formula

11. An access point, comprising:

a measuring module, configured to measure, within a set time range, a frequency space stream utilization rate of each unit bandwidth channel within a usable bandwidth of the AP, where the frequency space stream utilization rate is a ratio of a space stream occupied by a frequency resource block allocated on the unit bandwidth channel for transmitting data to a maximum space stream supported by an antenna of the AP; the frequency space stream utilization rate is calculated according to Nss streams on { RUs, j } in a bandwidth channel, and RUs, j is the j resource unit RU in the s time sub-segment in the CCA busy time period;

12. The access point of claim 11, wherein when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a primary20MHz channel, a secondary40MHz channel, and a secondary80MHz channel, the adding module is specifically configured to: the frequency space stream utilization rate of the primary20MHz channel and the frequency space stream utilization rate of the secondary20MHz channel;

as indication information to be added to the load information element.

13. The access point of claim 11, wherein when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a primary20MHz channel, a secondary40MHz channel, and a secondary80MHz channel, the adding module is specifically configured to: the frequency space stream utilization rate of the primary20MHz channel and the frequency space stream utilization rate of the secondary20MHz channel;

as indication information to be added to the load information element.

14. The access point of claim 11, wherein when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a main 20MHz channel and a set bandwidth channel, the adding module is specifically configured to: a frequency space stream utilization rate of a primary20MHz channel within the usable bandwidth;

If the set bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, the difference is 0;

if the set bandwidth channel is an 80MHz channel, the difference comprises a difference obtained by respectively subtracting the average frequency space stream utilization rate of the 80MHz channel from the two 20MHz channels contained in the main 20MHz channel and the auxiliary 20MHz channel in the 80MHz channel and the two 20MHz channels contained in the auxiliary 40MHz channel in the 80MHz channel; the average frequency space stream utilization of the 80MHz channel is a linear arithmetic mean of the frequency space stream utilization of 4 20MHz channels in the 80MHz channel;

as indication information to be added to the load information element.

15. The access point of any of claims 11 to 14, wherein the measurement module is further configured to formulate a formula

Obtaining the frequency space flow utilization rate, wherein N_maxSSIs the maximum number of streams per resource unit RU, N_RUIs to specify the number of resource blocks on the channel, N_ss,s,j,iIs in the ith CCA busy period T_iUtilized on jth RU within s time sub-segment withinNumber of NSs streams, RU_s,jIs the jth RU in the s-th time sub-segment, N is the number of CCA busy periods in the total measurement period, T_busyIs CCA busy time length, seg is during the ith CCA busy period T_iTotal number of slots busy.

16. A station, characterized in that the station comprises:

an indication information obtaining module, configured to obtain, from the load information element, indication information indicating a frequency space stream utilization rate, where the frequency space stream utilization rate includes a frequency space stream utilization rate of each unit bandwidth channel within a usable bandwidth of the AP, and the frequency space stream utilization rate is a ratio of a space stream occupied by a frequency resource block allocated on the unit bandwidth channel for transmitting data to a maximum space stream supported by an antenna of the AP; the frequency space stream utilization rate is calculated according to Nss streams on { RUs, j } in a bandwidth channel, and RUs, j is the j resource unit RU in the s time sub-segment in the CCA busy time period;

17. The station according to claim 16, wherein when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a primary20MHz channel, a secondary40MHz channel, and a secondary80MHz channel, the indication information obtaining module is specifically configured to obtain, from the load information element: the frequency space stream utilization rate of the primary20MHz channel and the frequency space stream utilization rate of the secondary20MHz channel;

as indication information indicating the frequency space stream utilization.

18. The station according to claim 16, wherein when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a primary20MHz channel, a secondary40MHz channel, and a secondary80MHz channel, the indication information obtaining module is specifically configured to obtain, from the load information element:

as indication information indicating the frequency space stream utilization.

19. The station according to claim 16, wherein when the unit bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, and the usable bandwidth includes a main 20MHz channel and a set bandwidth channel, the indication information obtaining module is specifically configured to obtain, from the load information element:

frequency space flow utilization of the primary20MHz channel;

If the set bandwidth channel is a 20MHz channel, the difference is 0;

as indication information indicating the frequency space stream utilization.